Owner

Current status

Detailed Description

abrt is a daemon that watches for application crashes. When a crash occurs, it collects the crash data (core file, application's command line etc.) and takes action according to the type of application that crashed and according to the configuration in the abrt.conf configuration file. There are plugins for various actions: for example to report the crash to Bugzilla, to mail the report, to transfer the report via FTP or SCP, or to run a specified application.

Benefit to Fedora

Ease of bug reporting and quick response from maintainers based on info from abrt should make Fedora more stable and thus more attractive for users.

Scope

what is already done:

daemon for detecting crashes

pluginable architecture:

database plugin

bugzilla plugin (report crash to bugzilla)

file transfer plugin (transfer crash data via network)

mailx plugin (send mail when crash happens)

kernel oops plugin

RunApp plugin (run arbitrary application when crash happens)

system detecting if binary belongs to our package

GUI

compiled (C/C++) programs support

Python support

further plans:

improved GUI

better integration with desktop

better user authentication system

add-ons for more languages

central management

It shouldn't affect any part of Fedora, its desing allows to easily disable or remove this application completely.

How To Test

install abrt and plugins

$ yum install abrt*

start the daemon (as root)

# /etc/init.d/abrt start

start the notification applet

$ abrt-applet &

test the functionality

Now if something crashes, abrt will
handle the crash. If you want to
test this, crash something, for example:

Note: for reporting to work, make sure you have a
fully-updated system. Reporting uses -debuginfo
packages, which have to match the version of the
corresponding crashed program's packages. This
also avoids reporting a bug which has already
been fixed in a later version of the software.

User Experience

If an application crashes, the user is notified by a trayicon (or a message in a log) and a simple wizard will act as a guide through the bug reporting process. All required information is gathered automatically so bug reporting should be easy even for less experienced users.

Dependencies

dbus

gtk2

PackageKit

PolicyKit

sqlite

gtkmm

Python

glade

to turn abrt on by default, we need to change comps to install abrt by default and no longer install bug-buddy by default, the service needs to be enabled by default, and the applet needs to be autostarted at login

Contingency Plan

Documentation

Release Notes

There is no simple tool for debugging programs and reporting bugs in Fedora and providing usefull information needed by package maintainer to fix a bug is often time-consuming and sometimes out of the skill range of an ordinary Fedora user. This tool should fill this gap and help users to fill a report with all required information in just a few mouse clicks.